Search for invisibly decaying Higgs bosons with large decay width using the OPAL detector at LEP

This paper describes a topological search for an invisibly decaying Higgs boson, H, produced via the Bjorken process (e⁺e^-→HZ). The analysis is based on data recorded using the OPAL detector at LEP at centre-of-mass energies from 183 to 209 GeV corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 629 pb^-1. In the analysis only hadronic decays of the Z boson are considered. A scan over Higgs boson masses from 1 to 120 GeV and decay widths from 1 to 3000 GeV revealed no indication for a signal in the data. From a likelihood ratio of expected signal and standard model background we determine upper limits on cross-section times branching ratio to an invisible final state. For moderate Higgs boson decay widths, these range from about 0.07 pb (M_H=60 GeV) to 0.57 pb (M_H=114 GeV). For decay widths above 200 GeV the upper limits are of the order of 0.15 pb. The results can be interpreted in general scenarios predicting a large invisible decay width of the Higgs boson. As an example we interpret the results in the so-called stealthy Higgs scenario. The limits from this analysis exclude a large part of the parameter range of this scenario experimentally accessible at LEP 2.     

Search for neutral MSSM Higgs bosons at LEP

The four LEP collaborations, ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL, have searched for the neutral Higgs bosons which are predicted by the Minimal Supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). The data of the four collaborations are statistically combined and examined for their consistency with the background hypothesis and with a possible Higgs boson signal. The combined LEP data show no significant excess of events which would indicate the production of Higgs bosons. The search results are used to set upper bounds on the cross-sections of various Higgs-like event topologies. The results are interpreted within the MSSM in a number of “benchmark” models, including CP-conserving and CP-violating scenarios. These interpretations lead in all cases to large exclusions in the MSSM parameter space. Absolute limits are set on the parameter cosβ and, in some scenarios, on the masses of neutral Higgs bosons.     

Search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the OPAL detector at LEP

This paper summarises the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in e ⁺ e ^- collisions at centre-of-mass energies up to 209 GeV performed by the OPAL Collaboration at LEP. The consistency of the data with the background hypothesis and various Higgs boson mass hypotheses is examined. No indication of a signal is found in the data and a lower bound of 112.7 Gev/c² is obtained on the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson at the 95% CL. Received: 13 March 2002 / Revised version: 9 October 2002 / Published online: 13 December 2002     

Search for charged Higgs bosons at LEP 2

A search for pair produced charged Higgs bosons has been performed in the high energy data collected by DELPHI at LEP with , 172 and 183 GeV. The analysis uses the τντν, and final states and a combination of event shape variables, di-jet masses and jet flavour tagging for the separation of a possible signal from the dominant W⁺W⁻ and QCD backgrounds. The number of selected events has been found to be compatible with the expected background. The lower excluded value of the H^± mass obtained by varying the H^±→ hadrons decay branching ratio has been found to be 56.3 GeV/c².     

Decay-mode independent searches for new scalar bosons with the OPAL detector at LEP

This paper describes topological searches for neutral scalar bosons S⁰ produced in association with a Z⁰ boson via the Bjorken process at centre-of-mass energies of 91 GeV and 183-209 GeV. These searches are based on studies of the recoil mass spectrum of and events and on a search for with and S or photons. They cover the decays of the S⁰ into an arbitrary combination of hadrons, leptons, photons and invisible particles as well as the possibility that it might be stable. No indication for a signal is found in the data and upper limits on the cross section of the Bjorken process are calculated. Cross-section limits are given in terms of a scale factor k with respect to the Standart Model cross section for the Higgs-strahlung process . These results can be interpreted in general scenarios independently of the decay modes of the S⁰. The examples considered here are the production of a single new scalar particle with a decay width smaller than the detector mass resolution, and for the first time, two scenarios with continuous mass distributions, due to a single very broad state or several states close in mass. Received: 13 March 2002 / Published online: 19 February 2003     

Search for charged Higgs bosons at LEP in general two Higgs doublet models

A search for pair-produced charged Higgs bosons was performed in the data collected by the DELPHI detector at LEP II at centre-of-mass energies from 189 GeV to 209 GeV. Five different final states, , , , and were considered, accounting for the major expected decays in type I and type II Two Higgs Doublet Models. No significant excess of data compared to the expected Standard Model processes was observed. The existence of a charged Higgs boson with mass lower than 76.7 GeV/c² (type I) or 74.4 GeV/c² (type II) is excluded at the 95% confidence level, for a wide range of the model parameters. Model independent cross-section limits have also been calculated.Received: 30 September 2003, Revised: 12 February 2004, Published online: 8 April 2004     

Heavy Higgs bosons at LEP

Production of a heavy Weinberg-Salam-type neutral Higgs boson at LEP energies is considered. We conclude that the Higgs is unlikely to be detected at LEP if its mass is greater than 150 GeV.     

Search for fermiophobic Higgs bosons in final states with photons at LEP 2

Higgs boson production with subsequent decay to photons was searched for in the data collected by the DELPHI detector at centre-of-mass energies between 183 GeV and 209 GeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of nearly 650 pb^-1. No evidence for a signal was found, and limits were set on h ⁰ Z ⁰ and h ⁰ A ⁰ production with h ⁰ decay to photons. These results were used to exclude regions in the parameter space of fermiophobic scenarios of Two Higgs Doublet Models.     

Three-body decays of Higgs bosons at LEP2 and application to a hidden fermiophobic Higgs

We study the decays of Higgs bosons to a lighter Higgs boson and a virtual gauge boson in the context of the non-supersymmetric two-Higgs doublet model (2HDM). We consider the phenomenological impact at LEP2 and find that such decays, when open, may be dominant in regions of parameter space and thus affect current Higgs boson search techniques. Three-body decays would be a way of producing light neutral Higgs bosons which have so far escaped detection at LEP due to suppressed couplings to the Z, and are of particular importance in the 2HDM (Model I) which allows both a light fermiophobic Higgs and a light charged scalar.     

Search for heavy neutral Higgs bosons in two-doublet models

A search for pair production of neutral heavy Higgs bosons decaying into has been carried out in a study of hadronic decays of the Z boson into four jet final states using data taken by DELPHI in 1991 and 1992. The two production mechanisms present in the two Higgs doublets scheme, bremsstrahlung production of hZ^* and associated production of hA, may lead to four beauty jets well recognizable using the precise microvertex detector measurements. No evidence for a signal was found, leading to limits on BR(ZhA4b) from 3.5 to 5.5×10^–4 at 95% contidence level, depending on the mass of the ligthest Higgs. When combined with the results of the recent DELPHI standard Higgs search, this result allows the kinematical limit to be reached for the masses of h and A in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) scheme. It also allows the tan1 domain to be explored, and a region above the kinematic limit for direct hA production is constrained by considering virtual hA production. Results are also given in the general two-doublet scheme.     

Search for Yukawa Production of a light neutral Higgs Boson at LEP

Within a Two-Higgs-Doublet Model (2HDM) a search for a light Higgs boson in the mass range of 4–12 GeV has been performed in the Yukawa process , using the data collected by the OPAL detector at LEP between 1992 and 1995 in collisions at about 91 GeV centre-of-mass energy. A likelihood selection is applied to separate background and signal. The number of observed events is in good agreement with the expected background. Within a CP-conserving 2HDM type II model the cross-section for Yukawa production depends on and for the production of the CP-odd A and the CP-even h, respectively, where is the ratio of the vacuum expectation values of the Higgs doublets and is the mixing angle between the neutral CP-even Higgs bosons. From our data 95% C.L. upper limits are derived for within the range of 8.5 to 13.6 and for between 8.2 to 13.7, depending on the mass of the Higgs boson, assuming a branching fraction into of 100%. An interpretation of the limits within a 2HDM type II model with Standard Model particle content is given. These results impose constraints on several models that have been proposed to explain the recent BNL measurement of the muon anomalous magnetic moment. Received: 1 November 2001 / Published online: 22 February 2002     

A study of charm and anti-charm production in beauty decays with the OPAL detector at LEP

The branching ratio of beauty hadrons to final states containing two charm hadrons, Br(b , has been measured using an inclusive method in hadronic Z⁰ decays with the OPAL detector at LEP. The impact parameter significance of tracks opposite tagged b-jets is used to differentiate b decays from other decays. The result is where det. is the systematic uncertainty due to the modelling of the detector, and is the systematic uncertainty due to the modelling of the underlying physics. Using this result, the average number of charm plus anti-charm quarks produced in a beauty quark decay, n_c, is found to be 1.12 ^{+ 0.11}_-0.10.Received: 11 July 2003, Published online: 18 May 2004     

Search for low mass Higgs bosons produced inZ0 decays

A search for light Higgs bosons was performed using the data sample collected in 1990 by the DELPHI detector at LEP, at centre of mass energies between 88.2 and 94.2 GeV. Using the process e⁺e^–H ⁰+Z ^0*,Z ^0*ff, it is possible to exclude the existence of the standard model Higgs particle with a mass between 0 and 210 MeV/c² at the 99% confidence level. Extending this analysis to the minimal supersymmetric standard model restricts the lightest neutral Higgs boson to masses above 28 GeV/c² irrespective of the value of the mixing angle.     

Search for Higgs bosons decaying to tau pairs in pp over collisions with the D0 detector

We present a search for the production of neutral Higgs bosons varphi decaying into tau+tau - final states in pp over collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 1 fb(-1), were collected by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. Limits on the production cross section times branching ratio are set. The results are interpreted in the minimal supersymmetric standard model yielding limits that are the most stringent to date at hadron colliders.     

Search for neutral heavy leptons produced in Z decays

Weak isosinglet Neutral Heavy Leptons (v _m) have been searched for using data collected by the DELPHI detector corresponding to 3.3 × 10⁶ hadronic Z⁰ decays at LEP1. Four separate searches have been performed, for short-lived v _m production giving monojet or acollinear jet topologies, and for long-lived v _m giving detectable secondary vertices or calorimeter clusters. No indication of the existence of these particles has been found, leading to an upper limit for the branching ratio BR(Z⁰ → v _m ?) of about 1.3 × 10^?6 at 95% confidence level for v _m masses between 3.5 and 50 GeV/c². Outside this range the limit weakens rapidly with the v _m mass. The results are also interpreted in terms of limits for the single production of excited neutrinos.